Devices for producing a useful horticulture mulch from vegetable matter are known, and, in this regard, attention is drawn to the specifications relating to Australian Patent Applications Nos. 28,344/77 (now Australian Patent No. 513,253); 33,134/78; and 25,297/84.
A typical such device has a cutting circle of perhaps 100 mm to 150 mm diameter, the blades usually being driven by, say, a single-phase electric motor of about 1.5 H.P. These prior art mulchers are quite expensive machines but they nevertheless suffer from having a relatively low peripheral velocity, due to the small dimensions of their cutting blades; moreover, these, as well as numerous other mulching devices, frequently become clogged with leaves or cuttings, particularly when these are wet. According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a mulching arrangement for a rotary motor lawn-mower, said attachment comprising a base plate upon an upper surface of which a rotary motor lawn-mower is removably mountable; and including a feed hopper attached thereto and being adapted to receive vegetable matter to be converted into mulch; said feed hopper being in communication with said upper surface of the base plate via a feed passage which is so formed and mounted relative to said base plate, that on operation of said lawn-mower a vibrating moment is imparted from the mower and base plate to said feed passage, such as to minimize or avoid clogging and blocking thereof by vegetable matter passing therethrough; the arrangement being such that vegetable matter fed into said hopper through at least one said inlet therein, passes through said feed passage to enter a cutting region of said mower, to be thereafter comminuted into mulch and discharged through an existing discharge chute of said mower.